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Valentina

I can almost guarantee you that you will not find another book like Valentina by S.E. Lynes. I know I haven’t read anything close to this before, and might I add that the cover art for this book is simply gorgeous, and fitting as well. This book is a one of a kind psychological thriller that will create this unease with in you that you can’t understand until the very last page, it’s a type of book that is so smart that you will be questioning who, what, when, where and why through out the pages.

This is absolutely the perfect type of book, and one that I have been yearning to read for quite some time now. I absolutely adore psychological thrillers, but feel that they have been lacking in the past couple of years. That could because I’ve read so many that the plots are so obvious to me now, but this one continually had my head spinning about which way was up and which way was down.

Shona just moved into a remote cabin with her partner Mikey. Mikey just got a job off shore, and with a new baby in tow, he wanted Shona to be safe while he is away. He has to work 2 weeks in a row, and then he has 2 weeks off. This leaves Shona with a lot of lonely time, time to dwell and get frustrated that Mikey isn’t around. That’s when she decides she is going to put their baby in daycare so she can go and find some work. When she reaches the daycare for her interview, another woman is waiting on the doorstep. Her name is Valentina. An Australian hippie who also has a baby she wants to drop off at day care. Then the two women Shona and Valentina become fast friends, to the point where they are almost inseparable.

Valentina ends up being a little bit more pushy than Shona first assumed, and once she starts finding secrets out about Valentina, like her real name, and where she actually lives, things start to get weird. Shona shows up at Valentina’s house one day, and peers through the window. On a mantle Shona sees a picture of her own husband, Mikey, staring back at her. Why would this woman have a picture of Shona’s man? That’s all I can tell you with out giving anything away. Like I said, theres this eery feeling through out the book that you can’t quite put your finger out. You can’t figure out what’s really going on.

At the end of part one, my jaw dropped. By the end of part two my jaw clenched, and at the end of part three I was so totally consumed in the story that I couldn’t put the book down. The ending was purely unbelievable in the best way, and the way that the book was written was so clever and the story came full circle so well, that this book has become my favorite of the year so far. I give this book 5 out of 5 stars, genius writing right here. I received this book from Blackbird Digital Books in exchange for an honest review.